An article appeared on ksl.com on January 2, 2009 about the trouble the Democrats are having and are expecting to have this coming election year. The Democrats are in danger of losing Congressional seats to the Republicans. Reading this article causes me to reflect again on the important role political parties have played in our country’s history. In my article of July 18, 2009, I used George Washington’s farewell address to argue that political parties are inherently bad for the country, and that while we cannot get rid of the party system altogether, we should avoid the spirit of the political party.
As I read this article, I am led to think that it is a little more complicated. Through out our history as a nation, control of the government has changed hands between two major political parties. First, it was the Democrats and the Whigs. Then, when the Whig party was dissolved in the 1850’s, the Republican Party took its place. When Americans tire of the rule of one party, they elect members of the other party to Congress or the presidency of the United States. Through out the twentieth century, other countries have allowed themselves to be controlled by one party with disastrous consequences for the nation. Nazi Germany and Communist Russia were two examples of this. However, in the United States, our democratic system of government has allowed us to be governed by a two party system and not let one party maintain power permanently. Ultimately, it is the American people who control the party system instead of the party system controlling the people.
However, one weakness of the political party remains. Just as, in other countries, political parties had the tendency to unite the people, in our country; they have the potential to divide us as a nation. It has been shown that no one party will maintain permanent control over this nation as long as there is no radical change in its form of government. However, we need to make sure that our American citizenship takes priority over party loyalty. To me, this is one of the main problems that plague the Congress and the presidency. I have the impression that politicians are too busy trying to score points for their own parties and they lose site on the welfare of the nation.
We at politivote claim no party loyalty. We aim to encourage and facilitate greater political involvement on the part of our citizens. The single most important reason for the vitality of our nation’s political system has been the participation of citizens. As long as citizens vote and as long as citizens focus on the good of the nation as their number 1 priority, the political party will be a tool of the American people instead of the American people becoming a tool of the political party.